Old OS Map of New Forest and Isle of Wight, Hampshire in 1901 by Bartholomew - Southampton, Bournemouth, Poole Harbour, Carisbrooke Castle, Needles Rocks

Few Bartholomew sheets pair two such different landscapes side by side as this one does, ancient forest and island coastline sharing a single half-inch map. Issued in 1901 as Sheet 33 of John Bartholomew's half-inch to the mile series, and based on a reduced Ordnance Survey, the map was drawn with the same cyclists and tourists in mind as the rest of the series, its graded colour bands showing height above sea level across a stretch of country roughly eighteen miles from north to south and twenty-six from west to east.

Southampton anchors the map's northern reach, already established by 1901 as a major transatlantic passenger port on the Solent. Bournemouth, its pine-planted chines drawing genteel Victorian visitors for decades by this point, sits along the coast to the west, with Poole Harbour, one of the largest natural harbours anywhere, opening out beside it. Across the water, the Isle of Wight carries its own concentration of landmarks: Carisbrooke Castle, where Charles I was held prisoner in 1647, the royal retreat of Osborne House, and the Needles, the chalk stacks and lighthouse marking the island's western tip. Inland from Southampton, the New Forest spreads its ancient woodland and heath, a royal hunting preserve since William the Conqueror's day, dotted with commoners' villages and the ruins of Beaulieu Abbey.

Whether your interest is New Forest ponies, Isle of Wight holidays, or the maritime history of Southampton Water, this sheet has something worth tracing, and makes a fond gift for anyone with holiday memories of the area. Bartholomew's relief work stays sharp at high resolution, and the print is offered unframed in the same size range as the rest of our county series.